The Shattered Veil Club

Located in Velvet Town in the Lower Circle of the Capital City and owned by Ola Nathera this club is a popular velvet house, and served as the childhood home of Kihrin.

Description
The Club's main areas are Main Hall where patrons are served food and drink and can watch shows upon a stage, and a courtyard with rooms at the back.

Courtyard
The central courtyard is small but divides the Main Hall area and the back rooms and is open to the sky above. It has a fountain at its center and entrances to cribs (the rooms of the velvets when working). It has access to a servant entrance to the streets, and access to the Main Hall. Towards the back of the courtyard, up two stairs and to the left is the entrance to Ola's room, and to the right up a flight of is the store room which doubles as Kihrin and Surdyeh's room.

Solarium / Garden Room
A room off of the Main Hall of the Velvet House. It has several couches, and alcoves.

Kihrin & Surdyeh's Room
Kihrin and Surdyeh live in the storeroom of the Shattered Veil. Its on the second floor, up a flight of stairs across from Ola's Apartments. The room is barely big enough for their two bamboo cots and living space.

Cribs
The velvets in the Shattered Veil work out of rooms called cribs. The contain basic items of armoire, washbasin and bed as well as a few more lewd objects one might expect of the trade.

"'The small room was barely furnished once one looked past the tapestries, lewd sculptures, labial mosaics of Caless, and the priapic offering dishes of her lovers. There was a bed, a sideboard, and an armoire. A pitcher, ceramic mugs, and a washbasin rested on the sideboard. The armoire held the few clothes Madam Ola had given her. The bed held a drunken merchant named...Something.'"

Main Hall
The Main Hall is where most customers seem to enter the Shattered Veil. It has a stage where velvets often perform.

Ola Nathera's Apartment


Ola's apartments at the Shattered Veil are opulent and reveal that she did more than offer velvets at the Club. The apartments are to the back of the courtyard, slightly down the hall behind a wooden door to the left. It is several large rooms, one a sitting area, and the other a bedroom and bath. The sitting area, or front room is large and has jungle like decorations related to Ola's Zherias culture. It has opulent carpets (fur and woven) and tapestries, peacock features, and dark wooden chests. At the center is a large glass topped table held aloft by three ravens beginning flight and being held back by coiled snakes. The table usually held a deck of Fate cards in a silk pouch, black obsidian mirror, and leather platter. The only seating available are two chairs at the table.

"''As you say, but-' Her voice faltered as she tracked his movement. Her mouth fell open as she stared at the apartment interior. Ola's from room was large enough to fit six or seven brothel cribs. Bright murals of verdant jungle, birds, and sky painted the walls....Masks of every description hung from the ceiling: paper masks and clay masks, carved wooden masks and stone masks, cloth masks and metal masks. A stuffed raven perched on a fake tree limb that jutted from the wall, above a cauldron filled with twigs and branches and bones.'"

A jade bead curtain separates the front room and the bedroom. The bedroom has wooden beams rafters and a beaded canopy over the bed. There is a cotton bed there, used only by Ola, and a small table and chairs. It has several cabinets and wardrobes, as well as a window. Its separated from the bathroom with another green bead curtain. The bathroom has a large copper tub.

History
The Shattered Veil Club was bought by Ola after she freed herself from her own enslavement.The legend (and it is a legend for it is likely missing a few key details) goes that Ola spent a night with the Emperor Gendal (knowingly in some versions, knowing in others) and he was so enraptured by her beauty (likely not quite true, though she was a fierce beauty) that he gave her a necklace of star tear diamonds. With these priceless jewels she purchased herself from her master, Therin D'Mon, and bought the Shattered Veil Club. The club is unique among those in Velvet Town as it allows the velvets employed to keep tips, and if they save enough, to free themselves.

In The Ruin of Kings, it is where Surdyeh (and Ola) raise Kihrin. ((SPOILERS AHEAD)) After Kihrin finds Butterbelly murdered, he returns to find Morea and Surdyeh dead in the cotton bed. He's attacked by four armed me, and nearly escapes, tearing down the bed canopy, by killing three and fatally wounding a fourth. When talking with Kihrin in the front room right after, Talon toys with the stuffed raven from the wall, and her tentacles kill the final attacker along the wall.

((SPOILERS)) After Kihrin is taken to the D'Mon's and Ola goes into forced hiding, not much of the Shattered Veil's fate is known other than it was shut down.Merit raided the storeroom for Kihrin, finding several items hidden by Surdyeh.